


On the Palm of His Hand

by MrEvilside



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Difference, Age Swap, Elder Loki, Flirting, Humor, Implied/Referenced Character Death, King Loki (Marvel), M/M, Magic, Young En Dwi, silver fox Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 02:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14559192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrEvilside/pseuds/MrEvilside
Summary: The Elders of the universe can only be alive as long as they have something to live for. Loki lives for change, yet he has been stuck on the throne of Asgard for thousands of years.That is, until young En Dwi Gast comes along.Inspired bymy-name-is-vako's amazing art.





	On the Palm of His Hand

****

(Art by [my-name-is-vako](http://my-name-is-vako.tumblr.com/post/173584505223).

The picture above inspired the following piece and is posted here with the artist’s permission.)

 

They came for him at night or, rather, whatever passed for night in this particular pocket of the universe. There is no sun in deep space, after all.

         There were three of them, two males and one female, dressed in suits of shining armour and wielding weapons of great power, if of old-fashioned manufacture – two-handed swords for the males and a spear for the female.

         ‘Hey, hey!’ En Dwi showed them empty palms. ‘I think there’s been a, a misunderstanding here?’

         ‘You are En Dwi Gast, brother of Taneleer Tivan of Knowhere,’ the female told rather than asked him.

         ‘Uhm… yes?’

         ‘You are the one he wants then,’ she snapped, though her comment appeared to be directed at her companions instead of him.

         They nodded and closed in on En Dwi, who tried a dazzling smile. ‘Ok, ok, maybe there _hasn’t_ been a misunderstanding, but, well… Wait, who’s _he_?’

         The two males ignored him and grabbed him by the shoulders. Planets and skies, were they strong! Not humans, then, though they looked like them. They were taller and larger, and En Dwi sensed a different bone and muscle density when they touched him.

         ‘Hey, I know who you a—’

         Before he could finish his thought, the female threw some dark fabric on him and someone hit him on the head. He groaned and collapsed into their awaiting arms.

         So it was that En Dwi Gast was captured by Asgardians.

 

*

 

Loki sat on the golden throne of Asgard in a rather inappropriate fashion for a god of his standing and age.

         A king should not keep his legs crossed so leisurely. A wise Elder should not slouch to one side and rest his chin on his closed fist.

         Yet Loki was Loki and he did what he wanted. It was the reason why he was sitting on the throne at all; the reason why Thor was not.

         He heard visitors before he saw them. In fact, he heard one of them, shrieking like a bilgesnipe in rut.

         ‘Mind the cloak, mind the… Hey, now you’re doing that on purpose!’

         Loki shot a questioning glance at the guards posted on each side of the double doors. They offered an unhelpful shrug.

         Brunnhilde made an entrance, kicking the doors open – which was not as rare as Loki liked to think. She dragged along a bundle of colourful fabrics and flesh, which twisted and contorted in her grasp.

         The guards made to stop her, but Loki straightened up and gestured for them to wait.

         By the time she reached the set of steps leading to the platform where the throne overlooked the rest of the room, she threw her load at her feet and brushed some hair away from her face.

         ‘En Dwi Gast,’ she announced, crossing her arms over her chest.

         The name made Loki’s eyebrows rise. ‘You found him?’

         ‘I did.’ The Valkyrie smirked. ‘Tivan was right.’

         ‘My brother sold me out?!’

         The voice came from the bundle – that is, from En Dwi Gast. He was squirming on the floor like a dying fish, desperate to push his red cloak away from his face. The more he thrashed around, the more tightly the cloth twisted around his head.

         ‘He likes things and I’m good at finding them,’ Brunnhilde replied. ‘It was easy.’

         ‘Well, that…’ En Dwi tugged at the cloak, which clung to his face like it had a life of its own. He resorted to speak through the fabric, though his words sounded muffled. ‘That makes sense.’

         Loki narrowed his eyes. ‘This is him?’ He rose from his seat and made his way down the steps. ‘If this is another of your idiotic jokes…’

         ‘You’ve grown too old for jokes,’ Brunnhilde interrupted him. Although brusque, her voice had a tinge of fondness to it. She kicked En Dwi’s leg.

         ‘That was unnecessary,’ he yelped.

         ‘You wanted him,’ the Valkyrie told Loki. ‘I brought him here. I’ll take cash.’

         Loki shook his head in exasperation and studied En Dwi again, albeit with different eyes. His iris turned crimson red and expanded to swallow the cornea. Blue ridges grew at the corners of his eyes and blended with age lines, transforming his face into a solemn mask, adorned by long black hair streaked with light grey stripes.

         Through those eyes he could see the threads of magic in the world. The creature before him bore within himself a cluster of them like the cluster of robes enveloping him. Loki was still feeling each thread like a skilled tailor when En Dwi managed to wrestle his way to freedom and emerged from his own garments, his short silver hair standing up like a cock’s crest – and a rather angry one at that.

         ‘Are you even listening to me?’ As if the thought was coming from a great distance, Loki realised En Dwi hadn’t stopped talking for a second. No, he had not been listening. ‘You, mister, whoever you––’

         The silence was so sudden it made Loki snap back into his body, staring at En Dwi’s widened eyes. White bled back into his own, and green pigment replaced red. En Dwi gaped at him in sheer and utter awe as he scrambled to get on his knees.

         ‘Oh, good,’ Brunnhilde stated. ‘You made him shut up. Are you paying me or not?’

         Loki glared at her. ‘You will get your reward, as agreed.’

         ‘Great. See you,’ the Valkyrie said, this time to En Dwi, whom she kicked again with a measure of affection, like he was a puppy.

         Loki waited for her to leave the throne room, then folded his hands behind his back and shifted his attention back to En Dwi, who couldn’t stop looking at him. ‘En Dwi Gast,’ Loki began, like he was tasting that name. ‘I have heard rumours about you. I can see it in your magic that they are true.’

         Awe left En Dwi’s expression at once. ‘I hope they’re all, all good rumours,’ he joked, though the conviction in his tone was feeble.

         ‘You twist creature’s minds with your powers and turn them against one another,’ Loki replied. ‘Mother against son, brother against sister, friend against friend. You have left several planets severely damaged in your wake. Others have ceased to exist. Word has come to me from every corner of the universe.’

         ‘Uh.’ En Dwi got to his feet, pulled his sleeves, and adjusted his cloak, which hung from one shoulder like a dead animal. ‘And what, hmm, what do you think of it?’

         Loki clapped his hands once. ‘I do like your spirit,’ he said, mirth and calculations mixing together in his gaze. ‘You have developed an unusual attunement to magic for someone so young and you take advantage of it. Making every planet your personal playground? It’s an ambitious project and it sounds like fun.’ He held En Dwi’s gaze, challenged him not to look away from his own ageless eyes. ‘Isn’t it?’

         ‘Oh, wow,’ En Dwi cooed, clasping his hands together under his chin like a mortal fangirl. ‘You, you really are _something_ , aren’t you? You got me all figured out in, in what? Ten seconds! Yes! How, how old are you even? Don’t get me wrong, you’re hot, I wouldn’t give you more than ten millennia, maybe, but, uh, your magic… Now, that feels _old_. Old old. Not in a bad way, just in a… powerful way. Who, who are you?’

         Loki’s eyebrows could hardly keep up with the many expressions that En Dwi’s endless babbling generated on his face. First they shot up when the creature called him “hot”, then arched when he called him “old”, and finally settled into a slight frown, as their owner was unsure whether to feel flattered or insulted by the overall speech.

         ‘My name is Loki,’ he answered. ‘I am the king of Asgard.’

         ‘Ah!’ En Dwi exclaimed in triumph. ‘I knew it! I wasn’t totally sure, I’ve never been to, to Assguard before…’

         ‘Asgard.’

         ‘What did I say? Anyway, never been before, right, so I couldn’t be sure, but, man, I can just feel the energy rolling off of you and it’s… it’s…’ En Dwi struggled to find the right comparison. ‘It’s like very, very, _very_ great sex, the kind when you feel, you feel addicted to your partner, you know? Like you, like you can’t get enough and there is just so much of you, you’re not one, but _two_ handfuls, even three, and I’m not being generous––’

         ‘Is this truly the first thing that came into your head?’ Loki cut him off.

         ‘Yeah, why else would have I said it?’ En Dwi shot back without missing a beat.

         ‘I had others executed for lesser offences,’ Loki pointed out.

         ‘Me, offending? I’m, I’m not offending! I’m _complimenting_. I tell you you’re the most incredible piece of magical ass I’ve come across and you take it this way? So what happens when, when someone actually insults you?’

         Loki lifted a hand. ‘Stop it,’ he sighed. ‘I don’t intend to kill you. Don’t make me change my mind.’

         ‘Oh, you don’t? Good!’ En Dwi let silence stretch between them for a spell, but Loki wouldn’t break it, so he had to. ‘Then, uh… what am I here for? Just so you could, uh, do you your thing with your eyes and guess my life story?’

         ‘I summoned you here because I’m bored,’ Loki replied. ‘I’ve been king of a prosperous planet for centuries. My wife is dead, my children are dead. My brother, my father, my mother…’ The corners of his mouth tightened. ‘They are dead, too. I’m alone on a throne I haven’t cared for in at least two thousand years.’

         ‘Wow, that’s… that’s heavy.’

         ‘I said stop,’ Loki repeated before he resumed his story. ‘After hundreds of years – I thought – perhaps you’d be someone I would see as a kindred spirit. Or something of the sort. Someone to…’ He regarded En Dwi. ‘Well, not match my magic––’

         ‘Hey!’

         ‘You are simply too young,’ Loki placated him. ‘Thirteen hundred years? That’s nothing compared to how long I have lived. One day, perhaps, you will become an Elder, too. Only those with our kind of potential do.’

         ‘Well, I don’t know.’ En Dwi crossed his arms. ‘The way you put it, it sounds like being an Elder is extremely boring. Boredom is time-consuming, but I guess it, uh, it doesn’t matter so much if you have, you know… eternity. Anyway, you’re not really, well, selling it to me right now, if you know what I mean? If you don’t want to kill me for what I’m doing, I’ll be, uh, on my way, if that’s cool? Places to see, things to do…’

         ‘I’m not selling you anything,’ Loki objected. ‘What do I have to sell? A golden palace? A single planet?’ He shook his head. ‘Despite the limits of your magic, you are playing games with all the galaxies, while I stay here, chained to one throne, one realm, just like my father wanted for his legacy.’ He uttered a bitter laugh. ‘I swore I wouldn’t become like him, swore I would be no legacy of his, that I would be my own. I was young then – your age. I was a fool.’

         En Dwi smirked at him. ‘That makes one of us.’

         His expression was contagious and his imprudent joke endearing. Loki’s laugh echoed through the throne hall for the first time in five hundred years.

         ‘Would you like to know an Elder’s secret?’ Loki winked at him and En Dwi didn’t even have to answer, as the look on his face was more than self-explanatory. ‘Each of us needs a purpose. Eternal life doesn’t feed itself. You have to do that. You have to find your own drive, that one thing that you can keep doing forever and that will keep you away from Death’s realm.’ Loki paused. His eyes stared at En Dwi like they were looking at something from long before that time. ‘Mine is change. I need it like mortals need oxygen. It is the one thing that, if I stop doing––’

         ‘You go out like a candle,’ En Dwi finished for him. ‘I got it. So you don’t, you don’t want to die, uh?’

         ‘In crude terms, no, I don’t,’ Loki admitted. ‘So I’m not selling you _it_ ,’ he reiterated once again. ‘I am offering to join you. I can teach you to make your games bigger, more fun. I can show you places in the universe you wouldn’t dream of. I can make you king of them, too.’

         ‘And you’d do all this…’ En Dwi said slowly. ‘… because you’re bored and you don’t want to, hmm, kick the bucket just yet? Because I can, what, make you change?’

         Loki took a step forward so that he was standing over him, their chests almost brushing, their faces inches apart. He was so tall and _exuded_ power like one does sweat. It made En Dwi’s mouth go dry.

         ‘That is one reason.’

         ‘Oh?’ The proximity of such an alluring source of magic made it complicated for En Dwi’s brain to process words. ‘What’s… what’s the other reason?’

         Loki lowered his voice and leant down to whisper into his ear. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. ‘I haven’t had a pupil in some time.’ He paused. ‘Or a lover.’

         En Dwi grinned. ‘ _Oh_.’

         ‘Yes, _oh_ ,’ Loki agreed. ‘So?’

         ‘I…’ En Dwi moistened his lips. His throat felt parched. He could have _licked_ Loki’s magic drop by drop if the guy so much as _suggested_ it. ‘I might just be in, uh, dire need of some lessons.’

         Loki beamed at him, took a step back, and linked his hands behind his back again. Far away. Demure. ‘That’s what I thought,’ he said.

         En Dwi blinked. Slowly, his mind caught up, as if a cog that had been stuck for some time came loose as soon as Loki walked away from him. ‘That’s, that’s not fair!’ En Dwi cried out.

         Loki shrugged. ‘Life rarely is.’

         Nonetheless, En Dwi couldn’t find it in himself to wipe away the dopey smile tugging at his lips as he watched the Elder saunter past him, towards the double doors. ‘Come,’ Loki called out to him without turning.

         En Dwi went.

         To bigger games and wilder dreams, in the wake of a being as old as the universe, who held galaxies on the palm of his hand. Perhaps Loki held _him_ on the palm of his hand, too, or wrapped around his little finger. Perhaps he would get bored with him, too, and toss him away as easily as he was tossing away Asgard. It was a bet.

         En Dwi loved a good game.

**Author's Note:**

> • This may or may not be the start of a series. Let me know if you’d be interested!  
> • According to [this page](http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/En_Dwi_Gast_\(Earth-616\)), Elders are kept alive by “single-minded obsessions”. I find it only fitting that Loki’s would be change for both mythology- and Marvel-related reasons.  
> • [This is where the art comes from.](http://my-name-is-vako.tumblr.com/) Check out their blog – they are great!  
> • I’m taking requests for more FrostMaster fics [here](http://mrevilside.tumblr.com/post/173599118197/accepting-frostmaster-requests). Ask away :)


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